Problems Using Adobe/Acrobat Reader for .PDFs?

We are receiving numerous reports that web users are experiencing problems accessing .pdf documents using various earlier versions of Adobe/Acrobat Reader software.

Frequently, older versions of the Adobe Reader will fail before beginning to display the .pdf documents embedded INSIDE the Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) browser window (embedding is the reader software's default/preset behavior).

The vast majority of these problems disappear after upgrading your copy of Adobe/Acrobat Reader to the current version.  (As of April 2008, the current version of Adobe Reader for Windows XP and [blech!] Vista was version 8.12.)

Symptoms

You may experience the following problems, either intermittently or consistently, while attempting to view .pdf documents.

• MSIE Browser displays a blank screen and/or freezes/crashes.
• Dialog box over a blank screen claims:
  "File does not begin with '%PDF-'."
• Browser displays screens full of gibberish codes (see example shown at right)

Why is This Happening?

Apparently many older editions of Adobe/Acrobat Reader have grown too bulky to load and embed reliably inside the MSIE browser's available memory. (Advertising and animation functions were added.) These Microsoft/Adobe "ActiveX® Plug-In" technologies are particularly unreliable when Adobe Reader version 6 is used with MSIE version 6.

Solutions

The most effective solution to these problems is to update your Adobe/Acrobat software to the current version.  (As of January 2007, the current version of Adobe Reader for Windows XP was version 8.) Critical security issues exist in earlier versions, see http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb07-01.html)

Visit http://www.adobe.com to obtain and install the latest Adobe Reader viewer software. You must have administrative rights on your machine to install or upgrade software--home users generally do have these rights, corporate/networked users generally do not.

For those who cannot install the upgrade, possible solutions are offered below to assist you in viewing .pdfs reliably.

#1.  Disable the "Display PDF in Browser" option in your reader software.

• Use Start - Programs - Adobe Reader to run the program directly (instead of running Reader as an embedded function within the web browser).
• Pull down the Edit menu of the Reader and choose Preferences.
• In the Internet settings page, de-select (uncheck) the "Display PDF in Browser" option.

#2.  Delete the Temporary Internet Files cache used by the MSIE browser.

1. Close all web browser windows.
2. Right-Click on the "Internet Explorer" icon (large lower-case blue 'e') visible on the desktop.
3. Choose "Properties" and make sure the first tab, "General" is selected.
4. Click the middle "Delete Files" button (see dialog box as shown below) and then wait as long as necessary for the computer to clean up. (The first time will take a few minutes on some computers, succeeding cycles are usually much quicker.)
5. Return to the web site and try clicking on the .pdf document link again.
   Repeat as necessary.

#3.  Use the "Save Target As" option to save the pdf to your computer's hard disk drive.

• You can save a copy of the .pdf document from the web site to your own hard drive, and then use the Reader (outside of the browser) to open and print the copy.
  At the web site, put your cursor/pointer on the .PDF item you want and right-click on your mouse, then choose "Save Target As" from the little menu that will pop up nearby.
  
  "Save Target As" will allow you to save the .pdf document on your desktop, or to your "My Documents" folder.
• Notes:  [a] Some browsers will show "Save Link As" instead of "Save Target As"; [b] to pop-up the menu on a single·button (Apple) mouse, use a 3-second hold down of the button.)
  After saving the .pdf file to your hard drive, start up the Acrobat Reader by double-clicking its desktop icon or by using the Windows Start - Programs menu. Then, open and print your (just-recently-saved) copy of the .pdf file from your hard disk.
• Caution:  Be alert for File Type errors while using "Save Target As" as shown below. If you cannot avoid the file type error, you must start over.
  
  The Delete Temporary Internet Files fix (see above) usually resolves this 'wrong file type' issue.

#4.  Use the new, free, and safer Mozilla Firefox web browser.

• http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox
  The Adobe/Acrobat Reader seems to inter-operate smoothly with Firefox. For browsing web pages, more and more internet users have switched to using Firefox instead of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (MSIE) as their preferred tool.
  Firefox will copy your favorites and other settings from MSIE automatically during installation. And, Firefox also offers many security advantages (anti-spyware, anti-popups) over MSIE.
  In response, Microsoft has issued a new version (7) of MSIE for Windows XP SP2 and for Vista with many improvements. Those users with totally up-to-date and validated copies of Windows should obtain the MSIE7 upgrade as well as Firefox; the two products will co-exist on the same system without trouble.

Other Strategies

Adobe says you may also notice an improvement if you re-install the Reader software. We recommend you use the minimum configuration without add-ons.

Give your Adobe Reader a Tune-Up

Finally, you can visit the following web site, where a nice British fellow has written a free utility - "Adobe Reader Speed Up" for fine-tuning your copy of Adobe Reader.

• http://www.tnk-bootblock.co.uk/software/index.php

Alternative Software

More and more often the free Foxit PDF Reader is being recommended as an lightweight and capable alternative to Adobe's various Reader editions.

• http://www.foxitsoftware.com

Conclusion

Adobe, Acrobat, Microsoft, XP, Vista, and similar buzzwords and symbols are likely to be trademarks of their respective owners; these entities should have been sent off to their beds without supper until they learned to play nicely together.

Revised:  Apr. 2008                                                                                          

David A. Kell
Web Administrator, UCSF School of Nursing
david.kell@nursing.ucsf.edu